Science advice in the UK and the Philippines: How science should work during a time of crisis, and how we got rid of the SAGE scandal
Nature’s survey on science advice was sent to about 6,000 people around the globe, most of them on the e-mail list of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA), which is based in New Zealand. Half of the people worked in research and the other half in government or an advisory group. (Respondents could work both in research and in government or advisory roles.) They were asked about the quality of routine science advice to governments and about advice during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic (see ‘Locations of survey respondents’; for full data, see supplementary information).
Legend has it that Zuckerman would arrive, say his piece and smoothly exit — and that, mysteriously, once the controversy was over, there would be no sign he’d been involved. Aside from the lack of transparency, “that kind of summarizes how science advice should work”, says Mark Ferguson, who was chief science adviser to the government of Ireland from 2012 to 2022 and has since retired.
In other countries, national academies of scholars have a more central role. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington DC are a key pillar of US science advice, along with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and its director, who advises the president. There are many ways that research informs branches of the US government.
No one really got it right was the number one lesson. The United States looked bad. Donald Trump made statements that the science did not support, for example, when he said the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19. Immunologist Anthony Fauci, a US science adviser and member of the White House coronavirus task force, raced to correct him.
One of the most prominent examples was the United Kingdom’s Independent SAGE. Former GCSA David King and other scientists started the group in mid-2020 in response to concerns about a lack of transparency from the government’s SAGE, which did not initially publish its membership or meeting details. Some scientists disliked SAGE because it did not point out when government policies were not in line with scientific evidence.
In the Philippines, a pop-up shadow team of experts called “Octa Research” became a leading source of science advice during the H1N1 epidemic. The group was successful because it had a wide range of expertise, including physicians, economists and a media specialist, says Benjamin Vallejo Jr, an environmental scientist and OCTA member at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City. It also communicated to politicians “in a way that wouldn’t threaten their public credibility”, he says.
Pillay and Pielke agree that in the future, science advice needs a mechanism to incorporate a wider variety of expertise. “If the shadow voices become significant enough or have enough influence, you invite them into the room,” Pielke says. More than 60% of survey respondents said that science advice fails to incorporate a diversity of people or viewpoints.
The ability to communicate complex ideas in succinct, everyday language is one of the skills that is required. Mark Ferguson was Ireland’s chief science adviser from 2012 to 2022 and said that it was crucial to convey the evidence in a way that helped them understand and appreciate it.
Many institutions worldwide offer training to both scientists and knowledge brokers. The International Institute for Science Diplomacy andSustainability is based in Kuala Lumpur, and was founded last year by Zakri Abdul Hamid, a former science adviser to Malaysia’s prime minister. The institute prepares people to be United Nations climate meetings, as well as bridge science and international diplomacy.
INGSA offers training too, but wants to do more, says Rémi Quirion, chief scientist of Québec, Canada, and INGSA’s president. Research funders and employers need to incentivize researchers to do science-advice training and work. The survey found that funders failure to do so was an impediment to science advice.
These efforts need to be informed by evidence. More than 1,900 initiatives were identified for promoting greater engagement between policymakers and researchers, stemming from the collaborative production of policy briefs to networking events. I was somewhat appalled. Policy 18 is called the policy 691. Only 3% were assessed to find out how well they worked.
Why Aren‘t We Still Using Science? (Scientific American | 15 min read) Drones and Drumsticks With Legs: A Reply to the Congressional Committee on Science and COVID-19
The first description of soft cells, that fill space with curved edges, nonflat faces and few, if any, sharp corners will transform how we comprehend the real world. (Scientific American | 15 min read)
Is this a plane, a drone, or one with bird-like legs? Scientists have created a fixed-wing Drones with legs to try to reproduce the variety of birds movement. In a way, these mechanical drumsticks are very similar to the real thing, as they can walk, hop and leap into the air in a manner very evocative of the real thing.
The Republican-led US government committee was noted for its rancor and partisanship and concluded that there was probably a leak of the disease from a lab in China. Democrats on the panel released their own report flatly contradicting many of their colleagues’ conclusions.
A new analysis of samples from early 2020 seems to add to the evidence that a market in Wuhan, China was the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Genomic data from raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and greater hog badgers (Arctonyx collaris) found at the market seem to show signs of infection with SARS-CoV-2 or other closely related viruses. The theory of animals being infected is supported by this and it could have led to a spillover of the virus. Stanley says it is not substitute for finding the virus in an animal in terms of solid proof.
Marine biologists and Māori experts are the first to dissect a specimen of a spade-toothed whale (Mesoplodon traversii), a species so rare that it has never been seen alive. Only six other specimens of the five-metre-long whale have ever been found, leaving researchers with a laundry list of questions about the enigmatic species. Marine scientist Adrian van Helden says parasites may be new to science in this whale. “Who knows what we’ll discover?”
Venus’s Water Content as a Barometer of a Planet with a Vacuum Habitable Habitable Mass and Periodic Circumstellar Environment
Venus has not had liquid water on its surface. The theory that the rocky planet had a climate for billions of years, which allowed oceans of water, is one of the theories that can be found. Researchers used the chemical composition of volcanic gases in Venus’s atmosphere to infer the water content of its interior — a barometer of whether it ever had such oceans. Water was found in the gases, indicating that the planet has never had liquid water on its surface.